You Jumped, I Jumped, Remember?
by Skyward Deviant
Summary: A story about the aftermath of the sinking of Titanic. The two lovers are separated by Jack's death and Rose has to struggle to survive without him. How will she do it? The only way she knows how: by never letting go. Still things will never be the same.
1. Prologue: The Death of a Titan

_You Jumped, I Jumped, Remember?_

_Prologue: Death of a Titan_

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_**Disclaimer: I do NOT own Titanic **_

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_The White Star Line lookouts Fleet and Lee stared out into the abysmal darkness on the night of April 14th, 1912, riding in the crow's nest of the grandest ship in the world, the R.M.S Titanic. They both soon spotted an iceberg five hundred feet or so from the bow of the unsinkable ship. Fleet took to action at once, not able to believe his eyes._

_"Bugger me!"_

_Fleet reached past Lee and rang the lookout bell three times, then grabbed the telephone, calling the bridge. He waited precious seconds for it to be picked up, never taking his eyes off the black mass ahead._

_"Pick up, you bastards!"_

_Inside the enclosed wheelhouse, Sixth Officer Moody walked unhurriedly to the telephone, picking it up._

_Is someone there?_

_Yes. What do you see? _

"_Iceberg, right ahead_!"

Mr. Thomas Andrews, the master shipbuilder of Harland and Wolff, the man who'd supervised the construction of_ Titanic_, rolled out his blueprints. He placed two paperweights on the blueprints, the captain of Titanic joining him at his side. As of now, he was the only one who could give the crew answers. Now he knew it was only a matter of time before… the unthinkable happened.

"Water... fourteen feet above the keel in ten minutes... in the forepeak... in all three holds... and in boiler room six."

"When can we get underway, damn it?" Bruce Ismay, the managing director for the White Star Line, demanded.

"That's five compartments! She can stay afloat with the first four compartments breached. But not five. _Not_ five. As she goes down by the head, the water will spill over the tops of the bulkheads... at E Deck... from one to the next... back and back. There's no stopping it." Andrews told him, his nervous energy taking over him.

"The pumps-" Captain E.J. Smith interrupted.

"The pumps buy you time... but minutes only. From this moment, no matter what we do, Titanic will founder." Andrews said worriedly.

"But this ship can't sink!" Ismay exclaimed, horrified by the sound that met his ears.

"She is made of iron, sir. I assure you, she can. And she will. It is a mathematical certainty." Andrews answered gravely.

"How much time?" Captain Smith asked the master shipbuilder

"An hour, two at most." Andrews said quietly.

"And how many aboard, Mr. Murdoch?" Smith asked.

"Two thousand two hundred souls aboard, sir." William Murdoch replied.

"I believe you may get your headlines, Mr. Ismay." Captain Smith said.

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**Author's note: I didn't technically write this. I just borrowed lines from the script. James Cameron's script, that is. :) **


	2. Chapter 1: Never Let Go

_You Jumped, I Jumped, Remember?_

_Chapter One: Never Let Go_

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_**Disclaimer: I do NOT own Titanic **_

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"Jack!" Rose screamed, the man dunking her head under the water in panic. She resurfaced, soaked with the icy water now, sputtering and shivering. "_JACK_!"

"Rose!" She heard the voice of the man she loved.

Jack swam over to the both of them. "Get off her! Get off her!"

He brought his hand back and swung it forward to punch the man dragging her down, freeing the young woman from an early and untimely death.

_"Swim, Rose. I need you to swim!" _

He took her by one of the straps on her life vest and dragged her through the water with him while they both struggled for survival, keeping their arms going through the water in order to stay warm.

"It's so cold!" Rose exclaimed.

"Come on. Keep swimming, Rose. Come on. You can do it."

They drew further and further away from the horrible screams of one-thousand five hundred people left to die in the freezing black abysmal ocean when the two soon happened up on a large piece of wood floating in the middle of the water.

"Come on, Rose. Get on top... Get on top."

Rose climbed up onto the driftwood, finally out of the frigid water. Then Jack climbed up on it after her, causing the panel to tip, almost casting him and Rose back into the water; Jack then surrendered the wood solely for Rose and instead stayed by her side, freezing, hoping that the lifeboats would soon come back to rescue them.

"We'll be all right now." He said, shivering. "We'll be all right now."

They looked over, watching the thousand or so people struggling for their lives in the icy water.

"For God's sake!" A woman screamed.

"Please! Help us!" A man looked from side to side, calling to any distant life boat that could potentially save them.

"The boats are coming back for us, Rose." Jack said hopefully. "They had to row away from the suction but now they'll be coming back."

"It's getting quiet..." She whispered as the freezing air numbed her entire body.

She could just barely feel Jack's hands clasped to her own as he stayed close to her side, slowly freezing to death. Alas, there was nothing she could do to help him. But there should have been something she could have done to help him.

"Its just gonna take em' a couple minutes to get the boats organized." He lowered his head to take a deep breath, fighting the chilly air around them. "I don't know about you, but I intend to write a strongly worded letter to the White Star Line about all this."

She tried to smile at his enthusiasm in the midst of this terrible tragedy but the frostbite and lack of heat in her face was overwhelming, especially since she couldn't feel the rest of her body.

"I love you, Jack." She managed to say to him.

Jack Dawson raised his head from the wood of what used to be the clock at the top of the grand staircase; he looked at her for a second. "Don't you do that... don't you say your goodbyes... not yet... do you understand me?" He shifted, shaking the door he chose for her to seek refuge on.

"I'm so cold..." She complained, when really he should have been the one to complain. He was floating in the middle of the frigid North Atlantic Ocean.

"Listen, Rose... you're going to get out of here. You're gonna to go on. And you're gonna make lots of babies... and you're gonna watch 'em grow. Your going to die an old- an old lady... warm in her bed. Not here... not this night... not like this... do understand me?" He asked of her.

She wanted to tell him that she loved him once again... but it wouldn't escape her lips.

"I can't feel my body." She lamented.

"Winning that ticket, Rose, was the best thing that ever happened to me. It brought me to you. And I'm thankful for that, Rose. I'm thankful."

He looked into her eyes as they both shivered, trying to stay alive. Jack shifted on the door.

"You must... you must... you must do this honor. You must promise me that you'll survive. That... you won't give up. No matter what happens. No matter how hopeless... Promise me now, Rose-and never let go of that promise." He told her.

She stared into his eyes, nearly immobilized by the temperature around her.

"I promise." She said.

"Never let go..." He whispered.

"I will never let go Jack. I'll never let go."

He smiled and raised her hand to kiss it.

Sometime later, Rose faced upwards to the sky glittering with stars; all was quiet now, including Jack whose hand she kept clasped to her own. She muttered a song as she fought the bitter cold around her.

"Come Josephine... in my flying... machine..." she muttered; "...and it's up she goes... up she goes... Come Josephine... in my... flying... machine..."

Then she heard something from out in the distance. It was a voice, incoherently calling for any survivors of the sinking; but the voice sounded strange, dragged out and elongated. She turned her head, breathing slowly against the frigid Atlantic air, seeing a bright light and a dark figure moving through the water.

"Is there anyone alive out there?" The droning voice called throughout the ocean. "Can anyone hear me?"

It was a boat! The boats had finally come back for them! She remained on her side and held onto Jack's hand that was limp and cold.

"Jack..."

Then she raised her second hand to try and wake him up.

"Jack..." she said, turning over onto her stomach. "Jack..." She shook his lifeless hand, speaking gently.

She stole a glance toward the boat that was passing them up by this point.

"Is anyone alive out there? Can anyone here me?"

"Jack..." she repeated, shaking his hand even more gently now, causing his head to sway from side to side slightly. "There's a boat. Jack."

Silence. When Jack didn't respond, Rose grew worried.

"Jack... Jack..." She paused; "Jack..." she said, growing impatient. "Jack!"

She could feel the hot tears gathering in her eyes; she knew he was dead but she denied it in her mind. Shaking his hand once again, she could feel her voice crack.

"Jack!" she said, ready to break down in tears. "There's a boat, Jack..." she whimpered; "Jack..."

He was gone.

Rose lay her head down next to his, feeling the icicles crunch in her hair and she wept, her breath sweeping across her face as she sobbed. Then she remembered her promise to him, hearing him call her name throughout her mind, she kept her eyes closed for a few more seconds. She wasn't going to deny her one true love his dying wish... for she was going to live.

Then she opened her eyes.

"Come back..." she whispered, raising her head from the door. "Come back!"

"Can anyone hear me!" she heard the far off Harold Godfrey Lowe call.

"Come back!" she said hoarsely.

"Is there anyone alive out there?"

"Come back!"

"Can anyone hear me?"

"Come back! Come back!" Rose called again and again, hoping by some miracle she would be heard.

"Hello! Can anyone hear me?" Harold Lowe, fifth officer of RMS Titanic called.

"There's nothing there, sir." One man rowing the boat told him.

Rose saw the flashlight zip across the water.

"Come back! Come back!" she called one last time.

"_HELLO_?" She heard Lowe once again.

Then she looked down, separating Jack's frozen hand from hers and slowly lowering it to the water. Jack's face was half submerged in the freezing water and Rose muttered something.

"I'll never let go. I promise."

She kissed the top of her love's hand and lowered it into the water. Then she watched the one man she truly ever loved, Jack Dawson, disappear into the depths of the Atlantic Ocean for the last time. That was the last time she ever saw his face. Seeing a face like that frozen to death nearly killed her. Letting him go and unclasping his lifeless hand from hers was the hardest thing she ever had to do; watching him sink was one of the hardest things she'd ever had to witness. She didn't even have a picture of him.

When Rose saw that he'd completely disappeared, she turned her head to see the now-deceased officer who had blown the whistle and the scrambled off the door and into the freezing water; shivering violently, she swam over to him and took the whistle from his mouth, sounding it repeatedly until the boat captain heard it from far off.

"COME ABOUT!" he shouted as the boat was rowed toward Rose.

She sounded the whistle repeatedly until the boat finally reached her.

The officer and his crew in the lifeboat rowed, slowly nearing her and next thing she knew, Rose was being pulled up into the lifeboat, being stripped of her life vest and the black coat that Cal had given her. When she was wearing only the dress she'd put on the the night before, she soon found herself being wrapped up in blankets and being allowed to lay down in the lifeboat. She might have been lucky to have been saved, but it was too late for Jack or any of the other now-dead people stranded in the middle of the ocean.

Rose then sat up in the lifeboat, watching the wooden panel on which she'd been saved, where Jack had told her to go on with her life, disappear along with the dead bodies of the unfortunate people, into the black night. She could barely believe that the RMS Titanic, the grandest ship of her time, that had sailed proudly in the ocean only hours ago, was gone. The great Titanic was gone, probably smashed up on the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean by now.

Everything that Rose knew was gone.

Her mother, Cal, Jack, Mr. Andrews, _Titanic, _and Jack's portfolio of many drawings were gone.

She lay back in the lifeboat, watching the sky now. Then, shedding a tear for Jack, she closed her eyes, hoping to forget about the world for a while.

Rose awoke many hours later to see that Fifth Officer Lowe was standing in the opposite direction, waving a green flare above his head, calling to a ship that sat anchored out in the distance; she looked up to the officer, noticing the other people in the life boat, mostly crew members from Titanic, rowing toward the ship that would most likely rescue them. When they neared the side of the ship, the Carpathia, which looked as though a black wall of steel rose up out of the waves of the ocean; then she noticed the passengers looking down at those coming in from being rescued from the aftermath of the Titanic disaster. Someone up above them, probably an officer on the ship, dropped a rope ladder down to the approaching lifeboats so that the survivors and crew members could come up off the seas and into the safe haven of the rather large ship.

The crew members then stopped rowing, the lifeboat bumping up against the side of the ship. They then reached for Rose, who was still incredibly weak from being the cold atmosphere for so long, taking her gently by the arms and dragging her upward. Surprisingly, Rose found the strength to, slowly but surely, pull herself all the way up the rope ladder to the deck of the Carpathia, the first ship she'd been on since the Titanic. A crowd of people, divided on either side of her, watched as she used the very last of her strength to proceed walking further inward on the decks of the ship.

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**Hope you enjoyed!**

**There will be more coming shortly! :)**

**- **RememberTitanic1912


	3. Chapter 2: Near, Far, Wherever You Are

_You Jumped, I Jumped, Remember?_

_Chapter Two: Near, Far, Wherever You Are_

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**Disclaimer: I do NOT own Titanic**

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The lifeboats returned later that day to retrieve any straggling survivors, their oak oars churning through the icy water; the officers that had once taken up post on the grandest ship in the world looked out across the area in terror and dread, their minds spinning with the events of that fateful night. The unthinkable had happened and they still couldn't believe it.

Even now, twelve hours later, long after the ship had sunk, they were still struck by the intensity of the disaster. Especially affected by the disaster was fifth officer Harold Godfrey Lowe, who'd led the only lifeboat to receive survivors after the ship had gone down.

He stood in his black uniform at the tiller of the lifeboat as the men under his command rowed silently through the frigid sea; even though the sun had risen high in the sky, the atmosphere around him was still freezing, making him wonder whether anyone could possibly have survived for twelve hours out here. Lowe stared up at the sky, sprayed with the mist of the frigid water as the crew on the oars churned through the water.

He knew that the ships retrieving dead bodies, the CS Mackay-Bennett, Minia, Montmagny, Algerine, were anchored just a few feet away from the field of floating dead bodies, but it was his job to pull the people who'd actually survived out of the water.

How hard could that be?

Extremely. Especially since there were no remaining survivors.

Almost out of nowhere, he heard something stirring in the distance; he turned his head and his eyes fell upon a young man drifting on a large piece of wood. The young man had dark brown hair, a black beret, five o'clock shadow and was wearing dark pants and suspenders. The man was waving. He was alive! He was probably one of the only survivors- if not the only- survivor he would pick up that day.

Perhaps he'd be wrong.

"Come about!" Lowe bellowed.

Rowing toward the young man seemed to take an eternity and soon Lowe found his men pulling the stranded young man into the lifeboat out of the frigid sea. He watched from the tiller of the boat helplessly as his men prepared to take in more survivors. He was still confounded by the idea that impossibility had met such a proud and powerful age; but he knew that the sinking of the ship was the signal of the end of the Edwardian Era. Man was no longer as powerful as Mother Nature, for she had shown them her true power, ending 1,500 lives and sinking the grandest ship in the world.

"_Is there anyone alive out there! Can anyone hear me!" _He shouted across the open sea.

As the silence closed in around him, he remembered saying the exact same words the night before.

The lifeboat rowed on through the sea of dead bodies, never failing to cause Lowe great anguish by reminding him of those fateful events only hours before. The once proud _R.M.S. Titanic _officer now stood silent at the end of the lifeboat, guiding the tiller and hoping for his men as not to hit the dead bodies, hoping for them, by some miraculous stretch, to be alive.

But he knew there was no hope for them now.

He called one last time, trying to convince himself that there was no hope left for these people.

"_Is there anyone alive out there! Can anyone hear me!"_

He was surrounded by frigid water, suspended, as if frozen in time. He opened his eyes; all he saw was blurry around him and the salt water stung his eyes. Then, acting by only instinct now, he shot toward the surface of the Atlantic Ocean, remembering the night that had nearly separated him and Rose. He surfaced, coughing violently, expelling the water from his lungs and breathing heavily while he shivered, trying to keep alive in the frosty ocean.

_What happened to me? _He thought.

The young man brushed his long dirty blonde hair away from his face and quickly scrambled up onto the nearest piece of driftwood; he shivered, turning around and gasping at what he saw next. Foot after endless foot in front of him he saw dead bodies, people he once had shared residence on the grandest ship in the world with. His thoughts were only of one person: Rose DeWitt Bukater...

Then he relived the last few moments of the _R.M.S. Titanic _until she met her watery grave at the bottom of the ocean. What a terrible fate to have befallen all of those involved in the sinking of the grandest ship in the world... He still couldn't believe he was alive... But where was Rose, the young woman he'd loved so dearly?

_Oh, God. Please tell me she's not dead..._

Then again, she _had _promised him that she would live... no matter what. He looked around, seeing no sign of Rose; then his eyes fixed on a white object growing further and further away from him and realized it was a lifeboat. There was still a chance he could be saved! But even more importantly, he could still be with Rose!

"Hey!" He called, his voice hoarse.

_Damn it. _He thought.

What was he going to do?

He spotted a shiny silver whistle floating in the water and grabbed it, the frigid water stinging his already half-frozen skin. He sounded it furiously, giving himself a splitting headache. But, really, he didn't care at all that much.

"Come about!" He heard the far off ship officer call.

He closed his tired eyes, trying his best to stay alive as the lifeboat rowed toward him.

All he could see was the face of Rose DeWitt Bukater...

As she still watched the Statue of Liberty, she felt around in her coat pocket.

Then her hand struck something; she took it in her hand and she looked down at it. The Heart of the Ocean sat in her palm. Surprise met her. But she pocketed the jewel worth more than the Hope Diamond... and disregarded the memory of Caledon Hockley and her own mother, Ruth DeWitt Bukater. She was in America now and she would soon make her own life, however difficult it was going to be.

But she could do it... after all, she had made a promise to Jack...

And she was going to keep that promise no matter what.

Someone approached her through the pouring rain over the American city of New York. He held an umbrella and shielded her partially as he stood by her side.

"Can I take your name, please, love?" The _Carpathia_ attendant asked her.

Rose turned her head of red hair and looked at him for a second. She felt the heavy rain beating at her back and she answered with one word. "Dawson..." she looked up at the Statue of Liberty; "Rose Dawson..." she replied.

"Thank you." The _Carpathia _attendant walked away.

Rose remained there for a few minutes, staring up at Lady Liberty in all her glory before taking shelter from the rain under an overhanging lifeboat lowered from the decks of "unsinkable" ship herself, _R.M.S. Titanic. _

_I'll never let go, Jack. I'll never let go. I promise._

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__**Review please! :)  
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	4. Chapter 3: One True Time I Hold To

_You Jumped, I Jumped, Remember?_

_Chapter Three: One True Time I Hold To_

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_**Disclaimer: I do NOT own Titanic **_

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**Okay, I'm back! After, like, two months of hiatus... but I'm back! - and I have lots of great ideas. I'm in a creative mood right now so... yeah... So, umm... I see there's been some confusion on the reason why the story was named what it is. I know the original quote that Rose says is "You jump, I jump, right?" But I reworded it for the story, since it's going to become one of the lines of dialogue. Can't tell you when... but that's all I can say. So, I hope I cleared up any confusion on the matter. Now I must get to writing the epilogue story to the greatest romantic tragedy in the world. :)**

**Titanic is the most beautiful love story ever! ...At least I think so... :) I cry every time :'(**

**Here's to all of those poor, innocent people who lost their lives that night.**

**Just an author's note. NOW TO THE STORY!**

**"Are you ready to go back to Titanic?" - Brock Lovett, Titanic, 1997 **

_Oooh...__** creepy**__... Haha._

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Where am I...? _Where am I!_ And how did I get here!

For once, Rose could think clearly. All the time she'd been on the _R.M.S Titanic_, her world had seemed that of one that would be a nightmare. It seemed less of a nightmare, but then she remembered what had gone on in the past forty-eight hours, and her heart sank, knowing that the reality of the past events had a dream like quality to them. She was sure that all that had happened had been real. They could have seemed to anyone else who hadn't been on the ship those days, unable to see it through the eyes of the survivors and passengers.

They had to have been, however unbelievable.

Just days ago, she remembered hanging over the railing of the Titanic's stern, trying to commit suicide, until Jack, thank God for him, had intervened, gently trying to convince her not to end her life just yet. He showed her a different way of life, the life of a bohemian artist... _his_ life. His life that had ended with that of the great White Star Line ship. And now his legacy, the potential life they could have had together, were gone.

"I'm Jack Dawson..." She remembered him saying.

"Rose DeWitt Bukater..." She'd replied.

But what she'd remembered most was "flying" on the great ship's bow with the man she'd soon fall in love with.

The Carpathia had made it to New York but had docked, her passengers remaining onboard. Rose was one of those people. She'd already survived the traumatic sinking of a ship and she wasn't about to step off of another one before she felt comfortable.

Remembering everything that had happened to him in the past few hours, Jack remembered most of all that he had been surrounded by people after having been pulled up the rope ladder and onto the ship that had come to rescue the survivors of the sinking. He didn't recognize anyone's face. Then he had known that there was no need for him to be able to do so. The only person he ever wanted to see again was Rose... but even he knew that she was gone. Keeping in mind all of the adventures and all the things they had done together while aboard the Titanic, he progressed past the passengers, finally collapsing on top of a pile of life vests that the survivors had shed after boarding.

He had groaned, falling unconscious as he had just before the lifeboat had returned for any last straggling survivors.

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While she sat alone on the deck of the Carpathia, she heard someone approach her from behind. "_Rose_?"

She turned to see that a tall young Irish man stood above her, taking his bowler derby hat off to greet her.

"Tommy!" She said in surprise.

Tommy pulled her up by her arms and helped her to stand. "Where's Jack?" He asked her.

Rose was incredibly hurt by his disregard for sensitivity. Then again, how could he have known that Jack was gone from her? She turned away from him. "He's dead."

"What!" Tommy asked. "How'd he...?"

"He and I were waiting for a boat... and ... and... they weren't quick enough... He died of hypothermia... of being in the water too long."

She and Tommy sat on the deck, talking quietly for about twenty minutes, ignoring the mindless chatter of the Titanic survivors and Carpathia passengers behind them; then they heard someone approaching them, another man, a heavier, thicker set of footsteps. Hearing this, Rose looked over her shoulder and saw that a man in a suit and overcoat, probably a first-class passenger, nearly charged toward her and Tommy, a furious look on his face.

As he drew closer and closer to them, Rose realized that this man in a suit and overcoat was Cal, her ex-fiance. She took Tommy's hand, backing away toward the rail of the ship; remembering how he'd chased she and Jack through the halls and down the stairwells of the _Titanic_ only hours before, she gasped and knew that this could only end badly for her and her lover's friend. And yet, with the sinking of the greatest, grandest ship in the world, she'd thought she'd seen enough adventure and danger for her entire lifetime.

"Stay away, Cal." She told him.

"You little gutter rat screwing whore!" He yelled at her. "What, is your lover not here to protect you anymore? I see... so you've hired this one to be your slave instead." He said, taking Tommy by the shoulder and casting him aside, charging for Rose once again.

"I'll warn you again. Stay away from me!" Rose threatened to climb the rail and jump overboard if she had to.

"Give me my God-damned diamond, Rose!" Cal continued to curse at her.

_The diamond? _Rose thought. _What is he talking about?_

She searched the pockets of the overcoat Cal had given her the night before and her fingers struck something hard. She then pulled it up out of the pocket and held it tightly in her hand.

"Looking for this?" She asked, taunting him and holding out over the edge.

"My diamond! Give it to me, you little whore!" He made his way toward her.

Rose held her hand out toward him, warding him off, telling him to stay away from her at all costs. "If you want your diamond..." She smiled. "Go and get it!"

She cast her arm over the water, the diamond disappearing from Cal's vision.

"NO!" Cal screamed, running to the edge. "I'M GOING TO KILL YOU, ROSE!"

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Jack lay asleep, deeply submerged within a dream. He remembered the day that he and Rose had secretly seen each other in the empty gymnasium onboard the Titanic while she and her mother were supposed to have had a tour of the ship.

_"Jack, this is impossible... I can't see you." Rose had tried her best to get away from him, knowing it was wrong to be with him at all._

_"I need to talk to you." Jack said, stopping her._

_"No, Jack, no." She began objecting. "Jack... I'm engaged... I'm marrying Cal... I love Cal..."_

_"Rose..." Jack stared into her eyes, patiently trying to change her mind. He began again; "...you're no picnic, all right? You're a spoiled little brat, even, but... under that... you're the most amazingly astounding, wonderful girl... woman... that I've ever known... and I..." He was interrupted._

_"Jack, I..." Rose ruined what he was trying to say by trying to get away from him, taking a few steps in the opposite direction._

_But the ever persistent Jack Dawson stopped her from going anywhere once again. Now he had her trapped with her back against the window of the gymnasium. _

_"No, let me try and get this out... you're ama-" He dropped his hands, trying to find the right words to speak to her. He sighed. "I'm not an idiot... I know how the world works... I've got ten bucks in pocket... I have nothing to offer you and I know that... I understand... but I'm too involved now... you jump, I jump, remember? I can't turn away without knowing you'll be all right... that's all that I want." He told her sincerely._

_Rose stared up into his handsome blue eyes._

_"Well, I'm fine... I'll be fine... really..." She told him, lying through her teeth._

_"Really? I don't think so..." He shook his head. Then he pointed angrily in the direction that Cal and Ruth had gone with Thomas Andrews and the others. "They've got you trapped, Rose, and you're gonna die if you don't break free, maybe not right away because you're strong, but..." He said, touching her face gently; "...sooner or later that fire that I love about you, Rose... that fire's gonna burn out..."_

_"It's not up to you to save me, Jack." Rose told him._

_"You're right. Only you can do that." Jack whispered._

_The two of them inched closer and closer to one another, leaning into a perpetual kiss, but Rose stopped the two of them._

_"I'm going back. Leave me alone."_

Jack's eyes shot open at the sound of someone yelling on the other side of the deck. He immediately stood up, making himself incredibly dizzy, but he didn't care. He'd heard someone scream his lover's name. He shot away from his original position on the lifevest pile and he quickly darted toward the other side of the ship. He weaved through the crowds of people, the other side of the deck coming into his view and he only stopped when he caught sight of something - or someone, rather- that he did not believe could have been real.

"Rose..." He whispered.

He increased his running pace toward her even more.

Rose smiled, dangling the diamond in her hand; Cal then realized that she hadn't thrown it. Cal, out of anger, threw his fist out in a series of punches, each aimed to hit her square in the face; but every time, she eluded him, dodging every glancing blow as best that she could. Tommy then tackled Cal, who then knocked him back onto the deck.

Rose, running out of options now, soon knew that she had no choice but to offer the Heart of the Ocean to her ex-fiance as a means of a trade and peace agreement. She held the diamond out to him, yet just out of his reach. Cal gazed at it, diving for and hitting his face on the deck when Rose pulled it away from him and dangling it over him once again.

_Help me! Oh, dear God! Please! _She thought.

"You worthless little whore... are you really still holding out for that son of a bitch vagrant to come and rescue you from me again?" He asked her spitefully, getting up off the deck again, his nose bleeding intensely. He wiped away the blood and he held the gun out toward her once again; Rose's mind spun but then she held her hand out to halt him.

"I'll give it to you if you leave me alone for the rest of my life." She told him.

Cal lowered the gun, his eyes focused on the diamond, and he nodded slowly. He held out his rather large hand and flexed his fingers, expecting the diamond immediately. "Give it to me now." He told her.

Rose surrendered the diamond, dropping it into his hand. She looked away, refusing to meet his eyes at any cost. She never wanted to meet his eyes ever again, much less hold the promise of still being bound to him as long as they both shall live. Cal grew angry once again, falling silent this time, and he surprised Rose with a swift slap to her face, another act of violence toward her.

Rose was instantly reminded of the first time he'd done that.

_"Oh, it is a little slut, isn't it?"_ Cal had asked her.

Then forcefully grabbing her by her upper arms after she was still recovering from having been slapped. _"You look at me when I'm talking to you!"_

Rose snapped back into reality, holding her face still. She saw him approach her when someone tackled Cal to the deck once again; Rose immediately turned her attention to that person and realized it was Jack. She knew it couldn't really have been him at all.

After all he _was_... dead...

But if it had not been him, then who else could have done such things to Cal as they were happening right in front of her eyes? Jack pinned Cal down and punched him once, causing the millionaire's head to fall back against the deck, bleeding profusely from his nose even more than he had been before. Then he made his way over to Rose, totally unable to believe that she was standing there before him.

"Jack!"

"Rose!"

They came together in a very tight hug, happy to be in each other's arms again.

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**So... yeah... took me a while to write this one. But I did it. :)**

**Original lines from the script were totally taken from Titanic's script, but all credit goes to the director... Mr. James Cameron.**

**BUT THIS STORY... THIS ONE RIGHT HERE... BELONGS TO ME. IT WAS MY IDEA. :)**

_**So... what'd you think? **_

_**Comments, concerns, etc.?**_

_Review please!_


	5. Chapter 4: We'll Stay Forever This Way

_You Jumped, I Jumped, Remember?_

_Chapter Four: We'll Stay Forever This Way_

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_**Disclaimer: I do NOT own Titanic **_

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**Written on 2.5.2010**

**My birthday was yesterday and it was amazing. But I got embarrassed when they sang happy birthday to me at Olive Garden. It was quite the experience. I enjoyed it. :) My dad even got me a Titanic book that tells about how the ship was built and the tragedy. It's awesome. :) It made my day. **

**Well, the point is that I'm back and ready to write some more for this story and I'll keep you guys posted. Enjoy!**

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Rose's mind was spinning knowing that she was reunited with the only man she'd ever loved.

After all this time, all the heartbreak and sadness of thinking that he was dead, she couldn't help but wonder why he had survived in the midst of what had happened. Sure, she was more than happy that he had survived and he was alive and with her now, but it just blew her mind...

Perhaps it was love that had kept them together...

Jack held her tight, never wanting to let go of her ever again.

He swore that if he was ever separated from her again, he wouldn't be able to live with himself. What he felt for her was like nothing he'd ever felt before. From the moment he'd first seen her on the first-class decks of the R.M.S Titanic, to the time where he'd first talked to her, trying to lure her away from suicide and in that making the biggest mistake of her life, he'd known that there was something about her.

Something that was different.

Out of all the many women he'd ever met in his travels as an artist, she was the most extraordinary. For a girl who'd grown up in such a claustrophobic, tight world that suffocated her to the point of near-suicide, she had such a pure heart and a wonderful spirit, a fire about her. That was why he'd fallen in love with her, kissed her on the bow of the ship, and had made her promise to never let go in the very end when death seemed inevitable...

"Oh, Jack..." Rose began. "I thought you were..." She said, unable to finish her sentence.

Jack gently held her face in his hands and wiped the tears away from her eyes with his thumb, still extremely happy that they were reunited at last in spite of the events that had taken place to separate them.

"I know, Rose, darling..." He hugged her once again. "I know." He kissed her slowly, just happy to have her back in his arms.

Rose was still extremely overwhelmed with the fact that he was alive but she tried allowing her mind to settle, just remembering all of the things they'd been through together. She couldn't believe that it had taken only four or so days for the two of them to fall in love with one another but she wouldn't have had her life any other way. There was no way. They'd already been through so much together. Some would have called them two teenagers who'd met and confused with their deep infatuation with love... but Rose and Jack both knew that this was much, much more than it was perceived to be.

"You didn't respond when I told you there was boat coming back for us..." She told him frantically.

"I was unconscious..." Jack told her.

"I thought you were dead..." Rose sobbed.

"I wasn't... No... I wasn't..."

How in the world did you survive?" She asked him. "And how the hell did we get here?"

"You jumped, I jumped, remember?" Jack told her.

The two met in a tight hug and Jack picked her up off her feet, kissing her many times. He held her tight, grateful that he had fallen in love with her.

"Jack..." Rose said softly.

Jack looked down at his one true love. He smiled, wiping a tear away from her face once again.

"... I love you..."

"I know..." He replied, although quietly. "I love you, too, Rose."

"Ruth! Ruth!" Cal ran into the cabin, flashing the blue diamond to his former would have been mother-in-law. "I got the diamond back."

Ruth DeWitt Bukater sat on a pile of life vests, staring at pictures of her daughter she'd kept in her pocket of her overcoat, rethinking the events of the past forty-eight hours. She'd never felt so horrible. Of course, she'd never had a loss as great as this. She'd already lost her husband, Rose's father, in the past and now she'd lost her daughter as well. As long as she lived without her two most important immediate family members, she swore she wouldn't know what to do with her life. All that she had ever known in the life of luxury had sunk with the R.M.S Titanic and now she had nothing. Her daughter marrying Cal was the only solution to her legacy of debt hidden by a good name... But even that had fallen through...

She placed the picture down on the pile of life vests she sat on, wrapping the blanket she wore even more tightly around herself and broke into tears at the sight of her daughter.

Ruth looked at him angrily between sobs.

"Ruth..." Cal said. "... I saw Rose."

The first-class woman's eyebrows rose.

"What? No! Rose is dead... she... she... died last night." She gasped in awe, thinking him a liar.

"No. She's alive. I got the diamond from her." Cal told his would have been mother-in-law. He caught her attention, her eyes sparkling with heavy tears. "But she was with that vagrant."

Ruth's face twisted with an angry expression.

"Go... get... her." She growled.

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Jack and Rose walked down the hall of the Carpathia, trying to find their way off the ship as fast as they could. They passed through halls and halls of cabins, trying not to remember or relive the night they'd escaped the sinking Titanic. Rose then stopped him, pulling him aside, knowing something that he didn't.

"Jack..." She said. "Cal is going to try to find me again."

Jack replied with a gentle kiss on the forehead. "No. He's not. We'll be out of here before he can."

"What if he does find us?" Rose asked him.

"We escaped him once, didn't we?

"But, Jack-"

"Come on."

He took her hand and began running down the hall with her, the only sound was their feet colliding with the floor; a young man appeared out of one of the cabins, heading toward Jack and Rose; Jack looked back behind him and panicked, trying to stop in time as not to run into him... but he was too late... He released Rose's hand in time, causing her to stumble aside but he and the other young man collided, falling to the floor of the hallway. Jack fell under the other young man, face first to the floor. The other man landed on him, having fallen over him on his stomach. Jack groaned, raising his head from the floor.

He wiped away some of the blood from his face and waited until the other man got up off him.

"Jack?" He said in a heavy accent.

Jack groaned once again. He rolled over, seeing the other man's face.

He was unable to believe his eyes.

"Fabrizio?"

Fabrizio pulled Jack up off the floor by his arm, causing the young artist to wince in pain.

"Are you okay?"

Jack wiped the blood away from his nose, sitting down on a nearby bench. He held his head in pain, holding his face toward the floor.

"I'm great, Fabri." He said sarcastically. "Thanks."

Rose sat down next to her love and allowed Jack to put his arm around her gently. She reached up to his face and wiped the blood away from his nose. Jack brushed his brownish-gold hair away from his face and he sighed, wincing in pain once again.

"Jack... I found something of yours." Fabrizio told him.

This caught Jack's attention. Fabrizio bent down to pick something up off the floor. He then held out a leather portfolio to his friend, causing Jack to raise his eyebrows in great surprise.

"My drawings!" Jack gasped. "Where did you find them?"

Jack took them from his friend, nodding in gratitude. Fabrizio sat down on his other side as Jack looked through his portfolio, making sure none of his prized drawings were gone. The first one he saw was the one of Madame Bijou, then the one of the one-legged prostitute, then the one of the French girl, and then the one of Rose that he had drawn on the last night aboard Titanic. He smiled at the memory of the drawing, putting his arm around Rose even tighter.

"Some guy in a suit had it." Fabrizio said. "So I stole it from him 'cause I knew it was yours."

"Some guy in a suit?" Jack said, turning to Rose.

"Cal..." Rose whispered to him in horror. "I knew he'd try to come after us."

"We have to get out of here. Now."

The three of them began running up the hall, passing many cabins on the left and right of them. A large group of people, all Titanic sinking survivors, passed by them and a young blonde girl stopped Fabrizio in his tracks.

"Fabri!" The young woman said.

"Helga?"

"Oh thank God! You're alive." Helga nearly rejoiced, leaping into his arms.

"Jack! Rose!" Tommy emerged from the crowd to meet his friends again.

"Tommy!" Jack exclaimed, hugging his friend.

"My ex-fiancé is coming after us. We have to get out of here as soon as possible." Rose told Tommy.

Jack and Rose began running down the hallway once again with Tommy, Helga and Fabrizio running after them. Rose, turning around, could have sworn that she heard Cal's voice behind her. This caused her to run even faster, her mind spinning with memories of the sinking a few hours prior to this situation. She didn't want to be chased down again, especially now that Cal could have access to bigger and better guns aboard the Carpathia.

"Come on, Rose." Jack urged her to keep running. "We're almost there."

Rose continued running with her love until they reached the outer decks of the ship once again. All around them, like on the other side of the ship, were some of the seven-hundred survivors; Jack led his love through the crowd, stepping past them cautiously, and he made for the ramp leading down into Ellis Island, where the immigration office would take care of all the information necessary for them to enter the United States. He took this opportunity, knowing there were no guards or stewards around to stop them from leaving the ship and he led Rose down the ramp, their many friends following them.

Jack, having not been to America in a long time, since he had been fifteen years old, glanced up to the Statue of Liberty. He was glad to be back home in his home country, the place he'd longed to come back to for a while. He held Rose's hand tightly, leading all of his friends and his love to the immigration office that lay just in front of them.

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**So... what did you think? :) I'd love to hear back from you.**


	6. Chapter 5: Poor Little Rich Girl

_You Jumped, I Jumped, Remember?_

_Chapter Five: Poor Little Rich Girl_

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_**Disclaimer: I do NOT own Titanic **_

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**Hello, people of earth! I promised you I'd write more and here it is. Please do enjoy! And please review, tell me what you think. Mmkay - here goes! :)**

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For years, she'd dreamed of being free from the chains of society that had held her down for so long. The suffocating, stuffy lifestyle had been too much for her to bear. She'd broken away from it for a while, running as fast as she could in high heels, sobbing and feeling the incessant need to throw herself off the stern section of the greatest ship to ever cross the ocean, to end this empty life of hers.

And for what?

She had everything most girls would only ever dream of. And she wanted to throw it all away? Even with wealth beyond anyone's wildest dreams, she was utterly miserable. Upon the passing of her father, she'd been left with nothing. The worst part of it was the fact that no one saw her inner pain, the urge to break free. Not even her own mother could see through to how she really felt deep down inside...

That was until she had met the man who was Jack Dawson, of course.

He was a poor man, a bohemian, who didn't have a penny to his name.

And yet he was completely satisfied with his life.

From the moment she met him, Jack never ceased to fascinate Rose in every way possible.

He was an artist, a free spirit, everything that Rose had ever wanted to be. Jack had gotten to know her and from the first time he'd ever met her and talked to her face to face, he could see right through to who she really was, right into her soul, reading her like an open book. He knew in an instant that she had been placed within the wrong social class from the start. With this in mind, while trying to break her from it, he'd shown her how to have fun and in the end, he'd freed her and saved her.

Rose knew that she owed her life to him.

If it had not been for him, she would have jumped off _Titanic_'s stern and died in the frigid water of the north Atlantic.

Come to think of it, she would've only had to wait a few more days before the ship had struck the iceberg.

Lost in this thought, Rose found herself staring toward the window of a small restaurant that she, Jack, Fabrizio, Helga and Tommy had found refuge across the street from. They sat under an awning, each huddled near one other for warmth. They watched as rain fell against the large window in the front of the restaurant and thunder roared through the churning gray sky, causing the glass to shake as though a hundred different hands were striking it, causing Rose to fall even deeper into thought. She'd lost everything she'd ever had on the ship... and now she was completely broke.

On the bright side, the loss of all the things she'd known had led her to be free, unrestrained by the chains of first-class society.

And, best of all, she wasn't to be forcibly wed to Caledon Hockley any longer.

Now she was free to marry Jack.

He didn't have a single dime to his name but what he lacked in wealth, he made up for by being extremely caring, sensitive, yet fun-loving and protective for a man of twenty years.

Rose looked away from the window and her attention turned to Tommy, who was counting a few Euros he had found in his pocket, placing each one on the concrete step in front of him; what bothered Rose the most was the fact that he had a saddened look on his face, like he had no hope left at all.

What was left for there to be sad about?

They had made it to America and they were safe now.

Then again, on a second thought, Rose remembered all of the unfortunate people who'd perished in the frigid water when the great ship had met her match.

There was a great deal of sadness to be felt in the hearts of those who'd survived. Men had been separated from their wives; brothers, sisters, grandparents, mothers, fathers, aunts and uncles and relatives of all kinds had been torn apart by the "women and children first" protocol that the_ Titanic_ officers had enforced upon the passengers. After the women and children had been rounded up and lowered away, men were allowed to board, provided that there had been room for them in the crowded lifeboats.

If they'd been lucky, they would have been lowered away.

If not, they would have taken the final plunge with the prestigious ocean liner herself and frozen to death. Of course, there were Jack, Fabrizio, and Tommy, all of whom had just been extremely lucky. She, Jack and all of their friends were lucky to have survived despite all of the panic and chaos aboard the great ship in her final hours above the ocean's waves.

But that was behind them now.

They'd survived the great tragedy and, being a part of it, could very easily retell the events of the fateful night when the ship went down if there ever was a need for them to do so... Rose knew that she could very well testify and tell of her recollection of the night, but she also knew that no amount of storytelling or testimony could ever patch the void left in the lives of those who'd lost loved ones due to the sinking of the leviathan ship.

Rose sighed, leaning forward and letting her head rest in the palms of her hands.

Then she felt a hand rest on her shoulder.

This caused her to raise her head and look up to the person sitting next to her.

It was Jack.

He looked to her with worry filling his gentle bluish-green eyes. Rose rested her head on his shoulder and Jack put his arm around her protectively and he kissed her on the forehead. This instantly reminded her of the instant when he'd led her up to the stern during one of the final stages of the sinking, holding her tightly, waiting for the most awful moment of that night.

_Jack... This is where we first met. _

In that heart-wrenching moment, she knew that it wouldn't be too much longer before they'd taste the frigid salty water of the north Atlantic Ocean, the great ship having disappeared under the waves, never to be seen or touched by daylight again.

Then he spoke, breaking her train of thought.

"Rose, you haven't said anything all night... What's the matter, darlin'?" Jack asked her softly.

Rose shook her head, trying to dismiss his question. But she couldn't. She _just couldn't _bring herself to go through with it...

She hadn't felt this terrible in a long time, not since the night she'd nearly thrown herself off the stern of the ship.

"I still can't believe that we lived through all of that..." She said barely above a whisper.

"I know, Rose." He cuddled with her. "But at least we're back together..."

"We shouldn't have survived..." Rose lamented. "All of those people who died should have lived in the place of us. They didn't deserve to die."

Jack held his love tight, trying to calm her down.

He stared to the window, watching the people in the restaurant eating while they had nothing, searching for something to say as to comfort her. But what words could be so wise and soothing that they might heal a broken heart? None that he could think of, that was for sure. He couldn't imagine what was going through her head at this exact moment, except for the thoughts of all those who'd died in the midst of one of the greatest disasters that would ever strike their generation.

"It's all right, Rose." He said, taking her face in his hands.

She averted his gaze, ready to burst into tears.

"Look- look at me, darlin'..." He demanded of her, making her meet his eyes, a gentle tone in his voice. "All of those people who died the other night... they survive through us. We are the ones who are to carry on and tell their story because they are not alive to do it themselves. That's why God chose us to live."

Rose met his eyes, a small tear slipping from her eye.

Jack held her and wiped the tear away from her face, placing a small kiss on her lips. Then Rose proceeded to bury her face in his shoulder, hugging him tightly. Rose knew what he'd said was probably true. With his words in mind, she knew God had brought them together and kept them together through everything that had happened in the past few days. It had also been His very same design to bring them together again after Rose thought he had died of hypothermia.

It would also be His design for the two of them to do all of the things they'd said they'd do together: drink cheap beer, ride on the rollercoaster on the pier in Santa Monica until they threw up, and ride horses on the beach, right in the surf, like real cowboys. Maybe Jack could even write his strongly-worded letter to the White Star Line about the tragedy that had unfolded under their very feet.

"Come on, Rose..." Jack said softly. "Don't cry."

"Jack, we should get something to eat, no?" Fabrizio said to his friend.

The young artist looked to his friend.

Tommy took a cigarette out of his pocket and lit it, looking back to Jack with a small shrug.

Jack shook his head, knowing he had no money on him.

"Sorry, Fabri, but I'm completely broke." He said, pulling out both of his pockets to prove it. Then he stared down into his palm at the dime Rose had given out for drawing her and he sighed, a cloud of hot breath shooting out toward the street. "Except for ten cents... but it's not going to get us anything around here..."

"What about you, Tommy?" Fabrizio asked.

Tommy shrugged dejectedly, putting his hands up to emphasize his point.

"No. Not unless they take Euros here in America." The Irish man said.

"Well, damn, boys, I guess we'll go hungry tonight..." Jack folded his hands and put them behind his head. "Back to the sweet bohemian life."

Rose frowned slightly at Jack's comment.

She felt sorry for him, for she'd never gone to bed hungry in her entire life. Then she remembered that she was wearing Cal's overcoat, reached into the pockets, wondering if there could be any money within them. She then pulled out several stacks of money, gasping as she did so. She hesitated before she handed it to Jack, knowing that though they had a lot money in this instant, it could easily be spent in a short period time if they weren't careful.

She nudged him and held the stacks of money up to him with a smile.

"_Holy shit_!" Jack gasped.

He hugged her to him.

"Where did you get all of this?" Jack exclaimed enthusiastically.

"I found it in my- _Cal's_- coat."

She blocked out all the noise of the world, caught in a profound thought.

Rose corrected herself, not wanting to remember the horribly selfish and greedy man who had almost become her husband. She suddenly found herself wishing she hadn't given Cal his necklace back. Then they could have sold the necklace for a ton of money that could have paid for an apartment or a house. But she banished the thought from her head, knowing that the Heart of the Ocean symbolized her sealed fate.

Without it, she was free of the chains that metaphorically bound her to Caledon Hockley.

Now she really was, like Jack, a free spirit.

Her concentration was broken once again when she heard all the noise of the world come flooding back like the water that had come cascading into _Titanic_ through popped rivets in her mighty starboard hull, ultimately dooming the great ship and most everyone aboard her. For once, Rose wished she could live without the memory of that night rearing its ugly head. It seemed like a work of fiction, a wonderful, hopeful story gone completely wrong.

She then wished her life _had _been fiction.

With a sigh, Rose Dawson slowly returned to reality.

"Never mind about what I said!" Jack said, rejoicing. He hugged both of his friends tightly.

"Tonight, boys, we eat the best we've eaten as poor men!"

Fabrizio took a sole stack of money from Jack's hand and after he stole a celebratory kiss from Helga, cast his head back skyward.

"_Dio mio grazie_!" He screamed to the heavens gratefully, holding the money up as far as he could reach.

Rose found it rather strange to know that the man who'd caused her so much misery had been the one that would allow them to eat tonight and for a long while following this night, however miserable it would play out to be in the end. Then she was surprised to know that Jack had swiftly swept her into his arms, silently thanking her for the money she'd found in the pocket of the coat that had once belonged to her ex-fiance.

"Thank you..." He told her.

Rose smiled, remembering all they'd ever been through together. "You're welcome."

He took her hand, helping her up.

Just then, a large black car, like the Renault car Jack and Rose had found while aboard _Titanic_, drove by, spraying Jack, Rose, Tommy, Fabrizio and Helga with a large jet of rainwater from the deep puddle of water in the cobblestone street. The group of friends gasped in surprise and then, looking around at one another, burst out laughing. Although they were soaking wet, hungry and freezing, they knew the future looked bright for them. Fabrizio took Helga's hand and dashed across the street, followed later by Tommy, leaving Jack and Rose alone. Although they knew they didn't have much money compared to what Rose used to know, they still had each other and a great life together ahead of them.

"Things are turning around, Rose." Jack said, touching her face gently.

Rose smiled, happy to know that all the tragedy was behind them.

"Jack... are we still going to do all the things we said we would?" She asked him, looking up into his eyes.

Jack held her close and kissed her passionately. He then pulled away from her, brushing her bangs back from her face.

"You bet." He told her.

"Come on, you two!" Tommy called to them.

"We're gonna stay here! Buy us something, will ya?" Jack yelled across the street to his friend.

Tommy gave Jack a thumbs up and dropped his cigarette to the soaking pavement, crushing it under his foot. He entered the restaurant after Helga and Fabrizio, disappearing into the crowd of people within the establishment.

Jack took Rose's hand and sat down next to her; they stared toward the restaurant and watched as the waiters and waitresses zipped in and out of the doors leading to the kitchen, balancing trays of fresh food on one hand and tray stands in the other. Rose knew that for once since the sinking, everything was going well. They had been incredibly lucky, for sure, and the best part was that they were alive and free. But Rose could only hope that their luck would carry on.

"You're gonna love California, Rose." Jack said with a small smile crossing his face. "The weather's great... not like ol' New York here..." He motioned toward the rain cascading down from the sky.

Rose smiled, resting her head on his shoulder. "It sounds like a dream."

"Oh, it is. It's incredible. I'll take you there and teach you to ride like a real cowboy, like I promised." The young artist told her. "Maybe we can even run around on the beach and go swimming in the ocean. But, I think we've had enough of the ocean to last us a lifetime, don't you?"

Rose laughed softly. "Yeah, I think we have."

Jack smiled at her comment, remembering the entire night. Then his smile faded, knowing that there was nothing about it that could have made him happy.

"And, Rose, if we go back to Europe, which I'm planning to do as soon as I can, I am _not_ taking another ship."

Rose said, smiling although the memory of the other night had been painful for everyone involved.

"I don't think any of the tramp steamers you mentioned will hit icebergs." She replied.

"Yeah, but who knows? Ol' _Titanic _didn't seem like she would and look what happened. Some 'unsinkable ship', I tell ya..."

Rose nodded understandingly.

Jack held her hand tightly, sighing and casting a large cloud of breath out toward the street.

The young artist watched the restaurant buzz with people, all enjoying hot, delicious food; he clutched his stomach, hungry. This food was probably nowhere near as good as the food he'd had when aboard _Titanic_, but it was better than nothing. He was used to starving, having gone many nights without food before. Compared to the grandeur and opulence aboard the massive forty-six thousand ton ironclad steamer, the bohemian lifestyle was nothing, put to shame by luxury.

"I think it was meant to be." Rose whispered to him.

This shocked Jack. How could she think that when it had led to so much suffering and agony? So many people had died because of great error and miscommunication, both technologically and socially. Of course, they had survived, which he assumed was a very good thing... for them. But they had escaped the doomed vessel by luck, by a hair. And why they had escaped in the midst of everything was beyond him.

"I don't know about that..." Jack replied.

"If Cal hadn't booked us on the ship and I hadn't tried to kill myself, I never would have met you."

She met his eyes, which were full of wonder.

"Maybe you're right." Jack whispered to her.

"Did you really mean what you said that night?"

"About what?"

"About winning the ticket and meeting me..."

"Of course I did. You _are_ the best thing that's ever happened to me. You always will be."

"I'm glad I met you, Jack." Rose told him. "You listened to me when there was no one else who understood me... and you saved my life not only by pulling me away from the rail but also surrendering the wooden panel so that I could live..."

Jack embraced her tightly, gently nuzzling her on her neck.

"I couldn't bear to see anything happen to you. You'd already been through too much." Jack said. "I'm sorry that I forced you to see me when you didn't want to... but I did it because I really care about you a lot, Rose."

"No, Jack, no. Don't apologize..._ I'm free because of you_." Rose said, feeling her voice crack. "I owe my life to you."

Jack looked at her, his one true love who was on the verge of tears.

"Everything I've ever said to you, Rose, I mean from the bottom of my heart." He whispered.

"I know, Jack. I know." Rose put one hand to his face, kissing him on the lips gently.

She couldn't wait to go to California and get out of New York, even if the rainy, cold weather was just temporary. She hadn't seen the shine of the sun since the day she and Jack had their first kiss on _Titanic_'s bow and she longed for its warm rays to touch her skin once more. Ever since she had been in the frigid waters of the north Atlantic Ocean, she'd hated water. Even the rain pouring from the cloudy, churning sky was enough to unsettle her. But she knew as long as she hated water, she'd have to deal with it if she wanted to live the life of a bohemian with Jack. And she would, by all means. She'd given up the luxury life to be with him, having run to him when she'd leaped off the lifeboat that would have carried her away from _Titanic _and, even worse, the only man she would ever love.

By doing this, she'd lost it all. But to be with him, she'd given it up in a heartbeat.

"Rose..." Jack whispered to her.

Rose turned to her one true love. "Yes, Jack?"

"You've made me the happiest man alive. Ever since my folks died, I... I hadn't really been that close to anyone. I lost my ability to love... until I met you." Jack said, looking into her eyes.

Rose was touched. Honestly, she didn't really know what to say to him.

One part of her wanted to hug him and the other just wanted to stare at him in amazement.

"We're going to have a great life together, Jack." Rose told him. "We'll travel the world together, poor but free."

Jack smiled at the enthusiastic attitude of his love. Then he felt his smile slip from his face. "It's not as easy as you think."

"I'm sure you could teach me."

"I dunno, Rose... first-class girls such as yourself probably wouldn't stand a chance out here." He said with a wide smile on his face.

He was totally joking, of course. He just wanted a reaction out of her.

"You'll teach me?"

"Sure, if you like."

The two young adults met in a tight hug.

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**I know that Tommy, Fabrizio, Helga, and Jack all died in the movie but in this story they live. What do you think? :) R&R, por favor.**


	7. Chapter 6: A Promise Kept

_You Jumped, I Jumped, Remember?_

_Chapter Six: A Promise Kept_

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_**Disclaimer: I do NOT own Titanic **_

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**_**Hey, guys. If you have any suggestions for chapters after this one, please let me know. I'd love to hear from you. :) In the meantime, ENJOY! :)  
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**P.S. - You'll be surprised about what happens in this next chapter ;) And I MIGHT try new formatting, so be warned.**

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After eating the food Tommy had gotten for them from the restaurant that consisted of two bowls of soup, a Caesar salad for the two of them to share, and a couple breadsticks, Jack and Rose walked side-by-side down the street, hand in hand, toward the grocery store that was nearby. The cold rain had been reduced to a light drizzle but the two young adults stayed completely dry by walking under the awnings of the shops on the way. With her hands in the pockets of Cal's coat, grasping the money, Rose entered the large grocery store that could be seen bustling inside from the windows; Jack stayed behind, waiting for his love to return. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a box of matches and a single cigarette; he struck the match against the side of the box and lit the cigarette while holding it between his lips.

He sighed, leaning back against the brick wall that stood behind him.

Then he looked to the sky. He thought only of his parents, both of whom he'd lost so long ago at the age of fifteen.

What would they have thought of their son who was now an adult in the world?

Would they be proud of him? Or would they be disappointed that he had taken to the bohemian lifestyle?

Then again, Jack knew that his parents would have been nothing short of proud of their son for picking himself up after their deaths and heading out toward the horizon in order to make his own life out in the world, even if it meant being poor and living without any one to love him. He'd been through it all, it seemed. He'd been without anyone to love him for years and he had grown completely used to it.

Until that night he'd stumbled across Rose, the emotionally distressed seventeen-year-old girl who'd changed his life completely.

He had then found something other than his art to love and live for. He began to think about how his life would have been different if he had never stopped her from throwing herself off the stern of the ship; he would have died eventually, with the sinking of the ship and the officers' restrictions on third-class compared to the second and first.

"_I love you, Jack_..." Rose had told him in the midst of it all.

The memory of the night the ship went down spun through Jack's head.

He then blamed himself for almost bringing Rose to her death; if he hadn't fallen in love with her, she would have stayed in the lifeboat and gotten away, lying in wait for the final deadly moments in the titan's death. But without him, she would never have seen the light of another day. For she would have committed suicide. And he would never have found another reason to live. He would have been lonely for the rest of his life, drawing people and living in a garret until his final days on the earth.

Would his parents have been proud of him for saving and falling in love with Rose?

Perhaps he never would have known. But he _did_ know something. He knew it now more than ever that he had a responsibility to Rose; to love her, to be there for her, protect her, and make her happy all the days that they should spend together. He also had a duty to keep his promise to her to bring her to the pier in Santa Monica, to drink cheap beer with her, to ride the roller coaster with her, teach her to ride a horse properly, not sidesaddle, like it was expected of women at the time, and maybe even continue his lesson of spitting. There was so much for them to do together, yet so little time before they would grow old.

But it didn't matter.

If they were meant to grow old, they were meant to grow old in each other's arms, the way it had ought to be.

_Thank you, Lord, for letting me meet such a wonderful girl. _Jack thought.

He looked out to the street, noticing that the rain had subsided; he then spit the butt of the cigarette out of his mouth and let it hit the wet pavement before he crushed it under his foot. The young bohemian artist sighed, waiting for Rose to come out of the grocery store. Then, with the stroke of this thought, the door of the store opened and Jack saw Rose exit from the door, two small shopping bags in her hands. He smiled, taking both of them for her.

"I swear I've never seen a more crowded place in my life." She smiled. "It was almost like Southampton all over again."

Jack smiled too.

Rose reached into one of the paper bags and pulled out a large messenger bag; Jack stared in awe at the light brown cloth bag with its leather handle and metal attachment with which one could adjust it. Then his face lit up as she handed it to him. She knew she'd never seen the poor, third-class young artist so happy in his life. Immediately Jack looked to his love, speechless. She truly was an amazing young woman.

"For you. For your drawings and tools." She told him.

Jack placed the bags on the ground and swept her up into his arms, embracing her. He kissed her multiple times on the face and then on the lips. He spun her around, causing them both to laugh, reminiscing about the steerage party and all the fun they'd had while dancing together that very same night. Jack held her close, stroking her hair; Rose linked her arms around his neck, feeling a tear slip from his face to her own.

"You've been so wonderful to me. I don't deserve you." He whispered.

"I love you, Jack. That's why I bought you the messenger bag. And it's also why I refused to leave you for the lifeboat."

"Rose, please tell me that we'll always be together." Jack said to her. "I want to be by your side until the day I die."

"I can promise you that." Rose told him.

"I don't ever want this to end." Jack whispered.

Rose looked up into her love's eyes, seeing everything that was right with her life in them. All she saw was him, all she thought about was him, so why did he think that anything would have come before him in her mind? She pressed her hand to his lips, as she'd done only once before. As he stared into her eyes, she smiled and lowered her hand away from his lips once again.

"There is nothing that can separate us now. We've been through the unexpected, the... the unthinkable together." She told him.

Jack's face lit up immediately, prompting him to kiss her slowly but with every ounce of passion and love that he could give her.

"Like I said..." He told her. "I've got ten bucks in my pocket. I have _nothing_ to offer you... but you can't put a price on this..."

Rose linked her arms around his neck; then she took his hand and held it.

Tightly.

"You and I will be together...

"Forever?"

"_Forever_."

Jack took the small shopping bags, full of food, and placed them in his new messenger bag, taking a moment to sling it over his body in order to carry all of their belongings. Then he took Rose's hand, kissing it gently, and began down the street with her. Their pace increased gradually to a run. Rose ran with Jack, hand in hand, and laughed at the thought of them running out of happiness. Jack ran behind her, his hand not leaving hers for any reason at any time; he held it, ready to protect her at any cost. Rose ran until she could feel her heart thundering in her chest, almost ready to burst.

But she didn't care.

She was with the man she loved and nothing would ever change that.

Suddenly, someone appeared in front of the two, Jack seeing the person first. Rose, however, had not been so lucky.

She did not see the person and succeeded in knocking her over. Rose and the other person fell to the pavement, both earning scratches, however small, on their hands and knees, landing almost on their faces. Jack ran to his love and pulled Rose up by her arms and brushed her hair away from her delicate, young face.

"You okay, darlin'?" He asked her.

Rose, exhausted by all the excitement that had been put into her life, sighed and smiled weakly to him. "I'm fine."

She kissed him softly and brushed herself off.

Then she turned to the other woman she'd so rudely run into.

"I'm so sorry, miss-" Rose said as she put out her hand to help the woman up.

When the lady turned around to face Rose, she immediately recognized her. Her dark emerald green overcoat trimmed with gold decorations that looked expensive, her rather large dark emerald hat with a feather, and her piercing sky blue eyes and thin, bony face, all had become too familiar to the young woman. Rose felt the need to run away at the sight of her, for she'd caused her so much pain and anguish in the last few years of her life. She'd tried to marry her to someone she didn't even love.

"_Mother_?" Rose asked.

"Rose!" The woman gasped.

Rose wanted to duck behind Jack had almost done so but her mother was too quick in taking her in a tight hug, tears flooding her sky blue eyes; her bony hands caressing her daughter's fiery red hair; Rose tried pulling away, but her mother had held her too tightly so that she couldn't easily get away from her. Ruth then proceeded to stand with her daughter, her head in her hands, almost bawling with the joy that her seventeen-year-old daughter, her only child was alive.

"Oh, thank the Lord that you're alive, Rose." She said joyfully.

This, for Rose, however, was not a very joyful experience at all.

Rose tried pulling away from her mother, only managing to free her head and shoulders. "Mother-" She gasped, unable to breathe very easily. She was still out of breath from running with Jack and now she felt limp and faint.

"What were you thinking leaving me alone?" Her mother scolded her.

Rose gave her mother a glare that nearly pierced her soul. "I meant what I said, mother."

"What about everything that I've given you? Everything that _Caledon _has given you?" Ruth DeWitt Bukater demanded of her daughter. "I cannot believe you traded your wonderful first-class life to run away with this gutter rat who doesn't have a damn dime to his name and sketches nude prostitutes for what he thinks is a 'living'! You ruined your fine match with Caledon!"

_Nobody talks about Jack like that. _She thought.

"He's _not_ a gutter rat at all! He loves me..." Rose said in all defense of the man she loved, taking a glance at him. "And _I_ love _him_."

"Oh, my poor daughter." Ruth lamented. "You've done your fair share of turning her against me by brainwashing her, you _dirty_ street rat!"

Ruth gave Jack a look of disgust, even though the young man had fallen in love with her daughter, ultimately saving her from her own destruction. Jack stood there helplessly with a defeated look on his face, knowing that it was not his place to ever act through anger toward a woman. He could have said anything to defeat Ruth but he held his tongue, feeling nothing toward her personally, even though she'd treated him like a piece of trash since she'd met him.

Without her, Rose would never have existed.

He, in a sense, owed all his happiness to her, the mother of the young woman he loved so dearly.

"Well, Caledon is waiting." Ruth grabbed her daughter by her hair and led her away for a step or two. "Besides, you can do so much better than this _vagrant_! Come on, Rose. We're leaving!"

Rose tore her mother's gloved hand away from her fiery red hair. "No, mother..." She defied her.

Ruth gasped. "Rose DeWitt Bukater! How dare you say no to me? I am your _mother_!"

"You are _no_ mother to me... not anymore. I accredit nothing to you except for my horrible life that _Jack Dawson_ saved me from!" Rose cast all the nastiness she felt inside toward her mother.

Rose took Jack's hand and turned, only stopped by a gun pointed to both of their heads. The two of them gasped, knowing that they had a very good chance of dying right there on the spot; for the man behind the gun now hated both of them. Jack got in front of his love, wanting to protect her at all times, no matter what the situation. He'd done it before, aboard the grandest ship in the world, so who was to say that he couldn't do it now?

"Jack Dawson." Cal purred the twenty-year-old artist's name through spite. "Unhand my fiance or you _die_."

Jack, fearing for Rose's safety, released his love's hand and stepped aside as Cal approached her. Rose backed away from Cal, horrified that her love had released his hand from her own; Cal intimidated the young woman so that she could not leap toward Jack and Rose looked to her love, remembering all that they'd been through together.

"Jack..." Rose said weakly, a tear slipping from her eye.

_Why? _She thought.

Jack, in all honest efforts to protect Rose, then realized that he'd made a huge mistake when the aristocrat swung his hand toward Rose, landing a firm smack on her delicate, beautiful face infuriated him... but all he could do was stand there and watch this horrible scene play out. But why wasn't he moving from that spot? He wanted so badly to tackle Cal and beat the crap out of him for hurting Rose. But he was immobilized.

"You really are a little slut." Cal hissed to her. "How dare you! What does the street rat have that I don't?"

Jack, losing control of his anger, leapt toward Cal but felt that he'd been pulled back into the alley by a sturdy pair of hands. The bohemian artist resisted the firm grip, realizing that through the darkness that it was actually Tommy and Fabrizio. They shushed him, placing their arms around his slim figure, holding the young twenty-year-old artist back for fear that they all would get killed.

"You look at me when I'm talking to you!" Cal took a hold of Rose by her shoulders, shaking her violently.

Then he was pushed away.

Ruth, in her anger that her daughter had been slapped by the aristocrat, had shoved him so that he collided with the brick wall behind him. Rose looked to her mother in awe, finding it strange that she had actually done that to Cal, and that she had actually had a change of heart in terms of the situation.

"Mother... _why _did you do that?" Rose said, barely able to breathe from shock.

"I wanted you to get married to Caledon. I said he could have you as his wife." She said. "I didn't say he could use you as a punching bag."

Immediately her attention went to Caledon Hockley. Ruth went to Cal, delivering a smack of her own to his face, and it was his turn to be held by the shoulders and shaken violently. She looked him dead in the eyes, her anger about him beating her daughter flaring in her eyes and on her bony face. Cal stared at the woman who originally was supposed to be his future mother-in-law, scared out of his mind.

"You don't touch my daughter. Do you understand me, _Mr. Hockley_?" She stared into his eyes with a poisonous expression in them.

Cal nodded. "Yes, Ruth."

Ruth held the gun to Cal's throat, leaving Rose to stand there watching in horror.

"Leave _my daughter_ alone. Leave _me_ alone. Do you understand me?"

Cal nodded. He was reduced to a trembling, sobbing mess and he slumped to the pavement. Ruth lowered the gun away from her former future son-in-law's neck. She smiled, putting the diamond in her pocket and smiled, pocketing the gun and its bullets also. Cal began backing away and sobbing.

"Get out of here." She told him.

She and Rose watched as the aristocrat got up and ran the fastest he could away from the scene; Ruth then turned to her daughter. Rose and her mother met in a tight hug, sorry for everything that had happened between the two them in the last thirty-six hours.

"Mother... I am so sorry..."

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**Oh, happy day! - I am such a nerd. The new Celine Dion concert movie coming out soon. **_**I **__**must **__**see it**_**. I'm a **_**HUGE**_** fan of hers since she sang 'My Heart Will Go On' for Titanic :) And I also hear that sometime in the near future, Titanic will be re-released into theaters in 3D! I am so excited. I ****am**** slightly obsessed, but at least I'm not a drug addict or anything, right? Haha- I want to see it because I never got to the first time it went into theaters, 'cause I was way too young to see it. I was, like, what... three... I'm going to flip when they finally do re-release it. :)  
And getting back to the story: so, what did you guys think? Surprised you, didn't I? Credit for Rose meeting her mother goes to my good friend (whose name will not be displayed for fear of stalkers). And I saw Dear John today... it wasn't what I thought it would be. And sad... :(Oh, well, I guess I'm a sucker for sad and romantic movies. ;) Oh, how I do love my good love story that I can cry for occasionally, such as this one.**

**Anyway...**

**R&R, please! I really appreciate it.**

**I will be getting back to you with the next chapter as soon as I can. Until then... hang in there. :)**


	8. Chapter 7: Make It Count, Part One

_You Jumped, I Jumped, Remember?_

_Chapter Seven: Make It Count, Part One  
_

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**Disclaimer: Y'all know by now that this movie belongs to the freaking amazing Mr. James Cameron and I could only dream of such an honor to be such a director.**

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**Author's Note: **

**I'm going to sit here and prattle on about the movie (which _I_ think is the greatest movie on the face of this planet) for the next three hours (that's an exaggeration, but, it will be rather lengthy- it's _21_ pages long!). This was written during the 3rd quarter of my sophomore year of high school, primarily in the middle of health class when my health teacher gave lectures (all he really expected you to do was listen and stay awake... and take notes sometimes… which I also did in my notebook while writing this, so no worries! LOL :) ) I worked really hard on this and I hope you enjoy!**

**And don't forget to review, please!**

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A little over an hour passed before Jack, Rose, their friends and Ruth decided to find a hotel in which they would stay for the night. Tommy, Fabrizio, Ruth, and Helga all had a room of their own but Jack and Rose happily shared one. Their hotel of choice was the St. Nicholas Hotel in downtown New York; it wasn't shabby but couldn't quite compare with _Titanic's _opulence and luxury, of course. Rustic and small, Rose immediately found that it was quite cozy but Jack took a different approach to the room.

Rose found herself sitting across the room on top of a desktop, watching Jack jump like a child from bed to bed, back and forth, again and again.

And to think he was a man, twenty years old.

She'd always known he'd been light-hearted and free-spirited, but she had never seen him act in this way.

This gained a smile from young seventeen-year-old Rose Dawson. Then she laughed as he flopped down on the bed, ridiculously tired from his antics.

"Jack..." She said, making her way over to him.

The young artist lay there, panting, staring up at the ceiling. "I've never done that in my life."

Rose lay next to her lover and kissed him. Then she ruffled his golden-brown hair with her hand.

Jack smiled and then kissed her on the neck, then continuing to her arm and to the tips of her fingers when he was stopped. He spied the ring that had bound her to Cal; then he withdrew away from her, giving her a sad look.

"You're still wearing that?" He asked.

Rose looked down at the ring. "I never got the chance to take it off."

Jack kissed her hand and removed the ring, letting it drop to the floor. He then lay back, stroking Rose's fiery red hair that fell over her shoulders in cascades of curls.

"How much was that ring anyway?" Jack asked her, putting his arms around her.

"Two thousand dollars." Rose said simply.

"Ooh, that's a little steep for a bum like me. But I guess it was just a little dent in Cal's big ol' fortune, huh?" The young artist said.

"Jack... It doesn't matter how much he has. _You_ were the one who made me truly happy..." She replied.

Rose looked up to him and Jack nuzzled her.

"You mean more to me than _any_ price someone could ever pay for a diamond, Rose." He said just above a whisper.

Rose glanced at him. "I love you, Jack."

"You don't know how much I love you, Rose." Jack hugged her. "You're my world. You _are_ my life."

Rose took her lover's hand, kissing it in return. She glanced at him once again. She then whispered something in his ear and they both smiled at each other; Jack kissed Rose passionately, catching her off guard slightly and Rose lay back, feeling him place his weight on her. Suddenly, the both of them were instantly brought back to the night they'd made love in the Renault Car in _Titanic's _cargo hold.

Sometime after that, Rose found herself and her love in the exact same situation as when they'd been aboard the ship; Jack lay over her, a blanket covering the both of them although it had been a coat the first time, and both were sweating, panting heavily. Rose touched Jack's face and tried to catch her breath as he gazed lovingly, although exhausted, into her eyes.

"You're trembling... again..." Rose said, a hint of a laugh in her voice.

"Don't worry." Jack said between breaths. "I'll be all right."

Then, as he'd done that same fateful night, he placed a gentle kiss on her lips. And with a few more gasping breaths for air, he allowed Rose to lower his head to her chest. He was glad there was no one to try and stop them that time; he didn't want this intimate moment to end.

"Jack... tell me this is forever." Rose placed her hand on his face.

Jack took one look at her and smiled. "As long as I'm supposed to live on this earth. And even beyond then, darlin'. You and I are bound by spirit. We were always supposed to be together. It just might have taken a while for it to have happened."

"If you hadn't saved me... I would've..." Rose said, her voice cracking slightly.

Jack kissed her gently. "I know, darlin'."

"I'm indebted to you." Rose told him softly.

"No, Rose. I think I'm indebted to _you_. You showed me love in a way I'd never known it before."

"Jack..." Rose told him softly. "... Whatever you want me to do, I'll do it. Just like I promised you."

"But, Rose, I'm alive. I only said those things because I thought for sure I was going to die. We'll do all of those together. And you're away from the life you knew before. You're free."

Rose took his words to heart and she nodded slightly. "Thank you, Jack."

The young artist knew not of what she was talking about but he kissed her forehead. "For what?"

"For all you've done for me."

Rose took his hand, pulling it toward her, letting it rest on her own. He kissed passionately, catching her off guard yet again.

"I couldn't let such an amazing young woman throw her life away." He nuzzled her. "Now I get to spend my life with her."

"Please don't ever leave me, Jack." Rose pleaded of him.

"Rose, darlin'." Jack whispered. "I will _never _leave you. I love you."

Rose thought about how Jack had drawn her and many other women in his time and wondered why, out of all the women in the world, he had chosen her.

"Jack..." Rose called to the young artist as he started to get up.

"Yeah?"

"Take that ring and throw it out." She told him. "I never want to see it again."

Jack pulled on the rest of his clothes. "You got it."

Rose pulled her dress on over herself after her corset and all of her underclothes, getting up off the bed. She pulled herself up off the bed and found Cal's coat; she put it over her shoulders, finding that the coast gave her much warmth. It was amazing to her that the man who'd been so cold to her could have kept her so warm. Rose lay back on the bed, quite tired from the last few nights' events. Then she recounted all the things that had happened in the past.

She and her family had arrived in Southampton to board the ship; she'd nearly thrown herself off the ship's stern... Jack Dawson had stopped her and the two had gotten to know each other. She'd danced with him in the steerage party and seen him in secret a day later; she'd gone back to the first class, only to come back to him later and "fly" _and_ have her first kiss with him on the bow of the ship.

Rose then smiled as she thought about when he'd drawn her... wearing nothing but the Heart of The Ocean but frowned at the thought of the ship hitting the iceberg, Jack's arrest, her going to rescue him, and them being torn apart by the ship's restrictions about first, second and third class by her almost being carried away in a lifeboat... before she had jumped back on deck to be with him again.

Then, she remembered, Cal had come after them with a gun, driving them down into the flooded bowels of the sinking ship. This had then caused them to fight for their lives, trying to escape once again... and they had.

But just by a hair.

Rose had never gotten to finish her list for she was then caught in the realm of an awful nightmare.

_She was searching and searching. Searching hard and high and low. _

_Her hands flew to the handles of the drawers, opening them much faster than her brain could process thought. _

_But what was she searching for?_

_She pulled out sic different necklaces that slightly resembled the Heart of the Ocean but none of them were the legitimate diamond._

_Finally, she came across the diamond and took it, noticing that water, frigid to the touch, surrounded her at an ankle depth and was sharply rising. She had to find someone to help her to rescue was, until, he appeared in the doorway; he wore the broken handcuffs around either of his wrists and stole a kiss from Rose's lips. _

_"Did you find the diamond?" He asked her._

_The question shocked Rose for all the time they'd been aboard Titanic, Jack had not cared nor expressed any desire to possess the diamond. _

_"Yeah." She replied._

_"Okay. Let's get out of here." He told her._

_He took her hand but the two were surprised to see Cal standing in the doorway. He raised a gun to Jack and shot him. Rose watched in horror as her lover fell dead into the rising water. Then Cal raised the gun to her and pulled the trigger.  
_

Then her mind transitioned to a dream which contained events that had actually happened.

_Rose swam, being dragged by Jack through the frigid, numbing water. She could hear her love's voice as he spoke to her. She realized she lay on the wooden panel, listening to him tell her to never let go, that she would make lots of babies and she'd die an old lady... warm in her bed..._

_Not here._

_Not this night._

_ Rose then began to cry as she'd done at her lover's 'death' in reality._

_"I want you to know that..." Jack began between his rampant shivers; "I... I love you... Rose..."  
_

Rose awoke with tears sparkling like tiny diamonds in her eyes, the confines of Cal's coat entangling her, and she sat up, panting and silently crying still. She unwound the coat from around herself and smelled cigarette smoke, following the trail until it led her to look out to the balcony. She saw that Jack and Tommy stood smoking, talking quietly amongst themselves. Rose was glad to see her lover in close proximity, the memory of her dream lingering in her head and she pressed her ear to the glass door.

"So, boyo, what did you do with that bastard's ring?" Tommy asked.

"Nothing yet." Jack replied. "It's in the room sitting on the floor."

Tommy took a puff of the cigarette in his mouth, breathing the smoke away from Jack.

"When are you gonna... you know?" Tommy asked.

That was all Rose heard before she removed her ear from the glass of the door.

She'd grown tired of the conversation already.

Jack gave his friend a look like he was insane. "What?"

"When are you gonna make her yours forever?"

The young artist brushed his hair away from his face and smiled. "Aw, I dunno, Tommy. Rose's kinda young to get married, don't you think?"

"Well, she was engaged to that limey bastard, wasn't she?"

"Yeah, but, I don't wanna pressure her into _another_ engagement." Jack took one last puff of his cigarette and threw it over the railing of the balcony. "Besides... she's only seventeen. She's still got her prime to look forward to. I don't think she wants a bum like me for a husband anyway."

"Are you out of your flippin' mind, boyo?" Tommy blew his cigarette smoke the other way and faced Jack again. "Damn, Jack. The lass is obviously itchin' for you to make your move."

"I just want to make sure we'll both be ready if it were to happen..." Jack told him. "It just seems a little bit too soon for her to want to commit to me..." He said in a low voice.

"Guess that makes sense." Tommy replied.

"I love her, Tommy. I don't want to trap her like Cal did... and I don't want her to marry me if she's not ready."

"Well, whatever you decide to do... I'll be right there with you, boyo." Tommy told him.

The two met in a tight hug and Jack smiled.

"Thanks, man."

"You know what you need? You look like you could use a good game of poker." Tommy said. "Whaddaya say, Jack?"

Jack Dawson smiled, searching through his pockets for money. He and Rose were broke now, having spent all of their money on clothes shopping a few hours before they had come to the hotel.

"I think that's a great idea."

The last time he'd played poker had led him to Rose. Jack stepped into the room, noticing that Rose wore a long black dress with a v neck; her fiery red hair was pulled back into a half-ponytail on her head. She turned toward him and Jack felt breathless, having never seen Rose looking so beautiful.

"Wow, Rose." He said. "You look nice."

Rose smiled. She made her way over to Jack and hugged him tightly. "Thank you."

"Hey... Tommy and I are going to play poker... you wanna come?"

Jack looked at the watch he'd bought a few hours before.

"We're gonna have to go tomorrow." Jack told her. "It's almost 11:30."

Rose kissed his forehead.

The seventeen-year-old lay back on the bed and began staring up at the ceiling. Jack went over to her and sat down next to her.

"Rose... If I hadn't come across you that night... you wouldn't have thrown yourself off the stern... would you?"

"No." Rose replied. "I was too afraid. I probably would have just hesitated."

Jack put his arm around her.

"Your mother never should have paired you with Cal..." He told her. "He might not have appreciated you, Rose, but I do." Rose looked up at her lover. "That's why I jumped back from the lifeboat."

Jack placed a small kiss on her lips which she returned, turning it passionate as the moments wore on. Then she felt his lips leave her own and her head returned to his chest.

"Rose... do you think it's possible for two people to be together forever and be happy?" Jack asked her with his voice no higher than a whisper as he cuddled with her closely, gently stroking her fiery red hair.

"I think it's possible." Rose replied.

Jack's hand met her own. "You do?"

"Yes." She nodded.

"I know you're probably not willing to get into another engagement after how Cal treated you, but, if I was to ask you to marry me... what would you say?"

"It would be different..." Rose replied, touching his face gently.

"Seeing him treat you like that... I just wanted to beat the crap out of him."

"It doesn't matter now." Rose said. "At least I'm with you."

"Would it matter to you if we got married and I didn't have a ring for you?"

"Jack..." Rose said. "A ring is a material possession..."

"I know, but... would you want one anyway?"

Rose took his hand. "I'd want one... eventually."

Jack nuzzled her once again. Then he smiled. "Don't you worry, Rose. I'll make sure you get anything you want."

Rose then hugged him, cuddling close to his chest.

"All I want is to spend my life with you."

Jack kissed her gently. "It won't be easy. But I'll make it happen."

The young artist kissed her on her cheek and let his forehead rest on her shoulder. Jack then began to stroke her hair, laying down with her.

"Good night, Jack."

"Good night, Rose."

Jack kissed her passionately and he turned out the lights.

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**Author's Note: **

**T****hat dream Rose has was based off a dream that I had once. I'm not kidding. **

**ANYWAY! I hope you all enjoyed!**** Review please! :)  
**


	9. Chapter 8: Make It Count, Part Two

_You Jumped, I Jumped, Remember?_

_Chapter Seven: Make It Count, Part Two_

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**Disclaimer: I do NOT own Titanic**

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Author's Note: Yes, I know I've been gone for a long time. I just got caught up in school and whatnot, but I'm back now. :) This chapter is going to be a little shorter than the others because I'm working on a longer part for the future which will be amazing. (: Enjoy!

* * *

"Jack, you're pazzo!" Fabrizio exclaimed in exasperation, slamming his hand of cards down on the splintering wooden table in front of him.

Out on the table lay the litter of paper bills, smelling of cigars and stray coins, that Rose had retrieved from Cal's coat pockets, being eyed greedily by the two other men playing poker with them, and Fabrizio's face twisted even more into a frown as Jack remained silent.

Jack had bet the other two men, lanky drifters like him, that he could win back all of his money plue all of theirs in a game of poker. In addition to the bet against Jack, the two men had pooled two hundred dollars, money they'd claimed from previous poker games. It was evident at the look of the faces of the men that they were nervous, reinforcing Jack's belief that he was going to win in a landslide like back in Southampton.

Jack's bluish-green eyes shot to his best friend and he smirked, perfectly calm with a smoldering cigarette hanging loosely between his teeth.

"I know what you're thinking, Fabri. You think I'm nuts. I know what I'm doing though, buddy. I won us those tickets to _Titanic, _didn't I?"

Fabrizio looked at Jack like he was insane. "You got _lucky_!"

Jack gave his friend a small shrug, picking through his cards to choose the next one to lay down on the table much to the disdain to the other men. He took the cigarette from in between his lips and blew a large cloud of smoke away from the table, shuffling through his cards once again as they stayed perched in his fingers; he placed the end of the cigarette back in his mouth and smiled yet again.

"I've got nothin' to lose, remember, Fabri?"

"Rose will be angry!"

Jack shook his head defiantly. "Oh, no, she won't. Because she's not going to find out."

"But, Jack-"

"We. Won't. Lose."

Fabrizio, angry with his friend at this point, grumbled something in Italian.

Jack glanced at the other two men who sat across the table from him and Fabrizio. "Who wants to go first?"

The man closest to Jack threw down his cards, revealing he had cards of various numbers. He looked to the man next to him, a scruffy, unshaven older man with red hair; this man looked quite nervous and he lay his cards out in front of him as well as though he knew he was about to lose.

"Hmm..." Jack managed, looking at the cards of the other two men. He smirked at Fabrizio. "Your turn, Fabri."

Fabrizio slammed his cards, a group of five, onto the table in frustration.

"Not bad." Jack said yet again, observing the two pair in the hand his friend had just put down. He took the cigarette from in between his lips and extinguished it in the ash tray in the center of the rickety table. The two other men leaned toward Jack, looking closely at his cards as he lay them to the table with a smirk.

"Now, gentlemen, I present you with a royal flush. Read 'em and weep."

The jaws of the two other men fell open in genuine shock.

Jack smirked yet again. He knew that the other two men knew they were in serious trouble now.

Fabrizio was speechless as he watched Jack collect all of the newly won money into a small sack, smirking still.

"Aspetta, Jack. Aspetta, per favore." He whispered under his breath.

He fell silent and remained that way as the two slowly walked away from the table and toward the door of the pub, attracting the attention of the many men who sat at the various tables, at the bar, and standing next to the door. Even the bar tender stared at the two victors, a look of shock splayed across his face.

* * *

Jack opened the tiny velvet box, smiling at the beautiful, gleaming silver band that he had just bought from the jewelry store next to the pub where he and Fabrizio had won the money.

"So this is what being rich feels like."

Fabrizio shot a glance at his friend that told Jack he was uneasy of the situation. "You're no milionario! You got lucky!"

"Luck had nothing to do with it, my friend." Jack replied, glowing at the sight of the ring he had just purchased.

"What are you going to do with something like that?" Fabrizio asked, pointing at the ring in Jack's hand as his friend smiled widely.

Jack held the ring up to Fabrizio for him to gaze at its beauty as he had been doing for the last few minutes.

"I'm gonna ask Rose if she'll be my wife."

"You're _pazzo_."

* * *

I hope you enjoyed! Review, please! (:


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